The University depends on information to develop programs and services, make critical strategic decisions, protect property rights, manage projects, serve students, and generate revenue. That information is contained in University records. Records can only be fully utilized as an asset if they are properly managed to enhance access to information and to reduce costs and risks. A records disposition program is a critical component in properly managing records.

The goal of a records disposition program is to ensure that:

•Records are kept as long as needed and only as long as needed

•Information can be efficiently located, retrieved, and used

•Records are disposed of appropriately to protect confidential information

How?

Disposition schedules are a well-established tool to support efficient operation and to manage records in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Schedules consist of:

•Identification of the department responsible for maintaining the authoritative version of each series

•Determination of when each series is destroyed or archived (i.e., its retention period)

Retention periods are based on an analysis of the length of time the documents are needed to support operational, administrative, legal, fiscal, and historic requirements. Retention periods are the same whether records are kept in digital, paper, or both, forms. Schedules should be used by all University departments and offices and by administrative and academic staff, administrators, and faculty.

Outcomes

The benefits of a records disposition program are:

•Time Savings

When inactive records are periodically removed from file cabinets and hard drives, searching for information in the remaining records takes less time.

•Reduced Uncertainty

Reliable, easy to find, guidance on disposition of records allows staff to take informed and confident action when managing records. Records are not stored long after their useful life "just in case" or "because I might get in trouble if it isn't here." Knowing what records exist and what offices are responsible for maintaining those records makes access to information simpler, faster, and more reliable.

•Space Savings

When inactive records are periodically removed from active work areas, less space and equipment are needed for storage. More space can be used by people to do work and less to store unneeded records. Departments developing imaging programs do not waste resources scanning records whose usefulness has expired.

•Cost Reductions

Containing the growth of records reduces the cost of labor to manage records and the cost of servers and file cabinets to store records.

•Reduced Risk

When destruction of records is done systematically according to disposition schedules, the University is assured of being in compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. Records essential to efficient operation are identified and protected as long as they are needed.

•Reliable Institutional Memory

Records of long-term value are identified, permanently preserved, and accessible.

How to Use Schedules

Section

Example

Meaning

Suspension Warning

Do Not Destroy Records that are part of - or you are aware that they will be part of - any legal action, audit, investigation, or review.

This warning appears at the top and bottom of every schedule as a reminder that, regardless of the normal disposition period, records that are part of an investigation, audit, or legal action MAY NOT BE DESTROYED. In other words, normal disposition is suspended until the investigation, audit, or legal action has been completed.

Schedule Title

Budgeting Records

The title identifies records with a common purpose (e.g., budgeting) or having a common form (e.g., contracts), that are generally used and managed as a group.

Description

Documents budget development and performance monitoring

Describes activities that produce the records and the document types most commonly produced by those activities

Confidentiality

Personally identifiable (non-directory) student information

Identifies the types of confidential information commonly present. Records containing confidential information that are scheduled for destruction should be securely destroyed to ensure that confidential information is not disclosed inadvertently.

Office of Record

Budget Office
Controller's Office

Identifies the units responsible for official copies.

Other Offices

Units maintaining convenience copies

Identifies units holding other copies of records and may recommend how long those copies should be kept, if different from the retention period of the official copy.

Identifies the length of time the official copy should be kept (its retention period) and the method by which it should be destroyed after its retention period has expired. When subgroups of records have different retention periods, this section is repeated.

Schedule Dates

Effective Date: 2003
Revision Date: 12/2006

The date the schedule first became effective and the most recent date the schedule was updated.

How Schedules are Developed

A pilot project to develop records disposition schedules began in November 2005 and was completed in November 2006. The project was designed to determine the costs and benefits of records scheduling and develop a scalable process for a continuing program. Records in the custody of five University departments were inventoried. The records represented in the disposition schedules here are those found in multiple participating departments. These schedules are not comprehensive. Records not present in multiple inventories were not scheduled as part of the pilot project.

Project participants included:

Advancement Services (Development)

Alumni Relations

Enterprise Application Services (Information Technology Services)

Procurement and Distribution Services

Technology Infrastructure Services (Information Technology Services)

Staff in these departments inventoried almost 1500 linear feet of paper documents (approximately 2.9 million pages) and 2.6 terabytes of digital documents. They also advised project staff on how and for how long they use records to support operational and administrative activities.

The Records Disposition Committee advised on the length of time the records identified in the inventories need to be kept to satisfy legal and regulatory requirements and to support fiscal, audit, and historic uses. Members of the Committee were:

Staff from Human Resources, Student Employment, Travel Services, and Procurement offered expert advice on their current record retention practices.

Staff from the University Archives developed inventory forms and procedures, trained the participating departments’ Records Coordinators in inventorying practices, researched retention practices at other universities, developed record series and draft retention schedules, produced this web site, and coordinated the project.

Additional general schedules are being developed. The University Archives will assist departments to develop department-specific schedules. Please send any comments or questions to archives@case.edu